Contents

Geography

The Bight of Biafra, or Mafra (named after the town
Mafra in southern Portugal), between Capes Formosa and
Lopez, is the most eastern part of the
Gulf of Guinea; it contains the islands
Fernando Po [Equatorial Guinea],
Prince’s and St Thomas’s. The name Biafra – as indicating the country – fell into disuse in the later part of the 19th century [2]

Early map of Africa depicting a region named Biafar in present day Cameroon

A 1710 map indicates that the region known as "Biafar" (
Biafra) was located in present-day
Cameroon.

History

The Bight of Biafra accounted for 13% (1.6 million) of the total number of slaves exported from the Western African coast. The
Bight of Benin to the west accounted for 17% while Central Africa to the south accounted for 48%.[4]

By the middle of the eighteenth century,
Bonny had emerged as the major slave trading port on the Bight of Biafra outpacing the earlier dominant slave ports at
Elem Kalabari (also known then as New Calabar) and
Old Calabar. These 3 ports together accounted for over 90% of the slave trade emanating from the Bight of Biafra.[5][6]

Between 1525 and 1859,
Britain dominated the slave trade from the Bight of Biafra accounting for over two-thirds of slaves exported to the
New World.[7]

Earlier, in 1777, Portugal transferred control of
Fernando Poo and
Annobon to Spanish suzerainty thus introducing Spain into the early colonial history of the Bight of Biafra.[9]

On 30 June 1849, Britain established its military influence over the Bight of Biafra by building a naval base and consulate on the island of
Fernando Poo,[10] under the authority of the British
Consuls of the Bight of Benin:[11]

In 1967, the
Eastern Region of Nigeria seceded from the Nigerian State and adopted the name of its coastline, the adjoining Bight of Biafra, becoming the newly independent
Republic of Biafra. This independence was short-lived as the new state lost the ensuing
Nigerian Civil War. In 1975, by decree, the Nigerian government changed the name of the Bight of Biafra to the Bight of Bonny.[12]